The Society for International Development (SID) is an international network of individuals and organizations founded in 1957 to promote socio-economic justice and foster democratic participation in the development process.

Through programmes and activities at national, regional and global levels, SID strengthens collective knowledge and action on people-centered development strategies and promotes policy change towards inclusiveness, equity and sustainability.

SID has approximately 3,000 members and works with local chapters, institutional members and partner organizations in more than 50 countries. SID’s activities are facilitated by an International Secretariat with offices in Rome (headquarters) and Nairobi. The Development Journal (published by Palgrave Macmillan) is SID’s flagship publication, continuously publishing since 1957, and enjoys broad readership within the development community.  

SID’s values

Our core values are the respect for human dignity, the centrality of human rights and the utmost commitment for social justice and gender equality. SID’s current focus springs from its long-lasting engagement on human rights and inequalities and is based on the following key pillars:  

• Human rights as the cornerstone of democratic governance and normative guidance at all levels; 

• Multidimensional inequalities as the descriptive, analytical and normative framework to assess development challenges and guide development policies; 

• A key focus on socio-economic transformation at all levels (micro, meso and macro) as the necessary strategy to tackle inequalities, fulfil human rights, and promote equity and justice; 

• Food sovereignty and agroecology as the fundamental paradigms to guide the transition of food systems that can ensure livelihoods, ecological sustainability, cultural diversity, and healthy and sustainable diets; 

• The democratization of global economic governance as the stepping-stone for the removal of the structural and systemic barriers to socio-economic transformation within existing economic, financial, climate, trade and monetary frameworks. 

Our Collective Work

SID's secretariat staff facilitate, co-facilitate and play an active role within many civil society platforms, including the Civil Society Financing for Development Mechanism and the Civil Society Nutrition Group. It is an active member of the Reflection Group on the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and contributes to the annual publishing of the Spotlight Report on Sustainable Development. It also co-facilitates many workstreams within the The Civil Society and Indigenous Peoples’ Mechanism for Relations with the UN Committee on World Food Security. It is an active member of the Global Network on the Right to Food and Nutrition, including the annual publishing of the Right to Food Watch. SID currently holds the Co-Presidency of the Geneva Global Health Hub.